Automatic mine-door-operating mechanism



W. CROOKS.

AUTOMATIC MINE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM. APPLICAT'TON FILED 1ULY17,19I9.

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APPLICATlON men JULY 1?, 1919.

1,345,074. v Patented June 29, 1920.

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duamau open the doors.

WILLIAM CROOKS, or Ammrcn, ALABAMAQ AUTOMATIC MINE-DOOR-OPERATINGMECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it' known that I WILLIAM CRooKs, a

citizen of the United tates of America, re-

siding at Aldrich, in the county of Shelby and State of Alabama, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticMine-Door-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

' My invention relates to' an automatic mine door operating mechanism inwhich the cars are-adapted to control automatically the opening of thedoors which are so hung as to be self closing. I

One object of my invention is to simplify and perfect the 'mechanismwhereby. the mine car or motor willact' automatically to A furtherobject is to perfect a novel means for suspending outwardly sliding selfclosing doors so as to avoid interference with the overhead electrictrolley wire in electrically operated mines.

A further object is to provide the door opening arms, which are spacedapartby the oncoming car or locomotive, with yielding inwardl disposedstraps which make sure'that t e doors will be pressed far enough apartto clear any part on the car.

My invention also comprises the novel details of construction andarrangements of parts, which in their preferred embodiments only areillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is anelevation showing the mine doors in closed position.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the telescoping rods utilized to openthe door and showing their equipment with spring resistance straps.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the operating mechanisms onboth sides of a pair of doors.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout thedrawings.

As illustrated, the mine cars 1 are adapted to travel on the mine track2 and at suitable intervals the mine is equipped with trans verselymovable pairs of doors 3, the doors being suspended overhead b hangers &and trolleys 5 from inclined trac s 6 which slope upwardly and outwardlyfrom the center line above the track. he doors at their lower endstravel between guide bars 7 attached at their outer ends to suitablesupports and at their inner ends, which curve downwardly at 8, to aconveniently placed Applicatioii filed July17, 1919. Serial No. 311,633.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentd J 116 29 1920 cross tie 9..These guides have the same slope as the overhead track 6 and the doorsare thus suspended free to travel on their hanger supports, i

Where-the mine haulage is electric, it is necessary to modify one of thehangers and to this end, as will be seen in Fig. 1 Where I the trolleywire 10 is shown, the adjacent hanger is formed by an elongated metalstrap 11 which extends upwardly and is bent so as to have a. U-shape inelevation with the trolley wheel 5 'ournaled at the free end of itsupper leg. t must be apparent that the U-shaped hanger will straddle thetrolley wire and will not interfere with it .as

the door slides back andforth in response to-the mechanism which willnow be described.

At each side of the track and, Where traffic is in both directions, onboth sides of the doors, Iprovide suitablefixed blocksor supports 12which preferably rise to a height of from 14 to 16 above the track andare securely anchored. Upon the top of each of these blocks or supportsis mounted a metal strap 13 under which the flattened end 7 14. of apipe 15 is passed with a pivot bolt 16, passing through the strap andpipe end 14 so as to pivotally connect it to the block.

In the free end of the pipe I telescope a rod 17 which at its outer endis pivotally connected by a metal strap or plate 18 to the inner edge ofthe adjacent mine door. A curved resistance strap 19 of spring metal hasone end riveted or otherwise attached to the free end of its respectivepipe 15 and at its other end is bent under and back and held under astrap or band 20 which surrounds the pipe. As shown in Fig. 2 theseresistance straps face away fromthe doors and are disposed to be engagedby the oncoming mine car or locomotive and to absorb or take care of theinitial thrust likea spring buffer to avoid too great a strain on thedoor operating mechanism if the car or locomotive is moving faster thanis proper as it approaches the doors to be opened.

' This invention is not intended to be restricted in scope to thespecific embodiments I claim as new and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. In a mine door opening mechanism a pair of laterally moving slidingdoors, side anchors, and divergent telescoping arms connected at one endto the pair of doors and at the other end to said side anchors.

2. In a mine door opening mechanism, a pair of laterally moving slidingdoors, side anchors, divergently disposed telescoping arms connected atoneqendto the pair, of

nected at their free end to said doors near their adjacent edges, andfixed bearings to which the other end of said arms are pivoted. a

4-. In combination with a pair doors, upwardly and outwardly inclinedtransverse tracks, trolley hangers movable on said track by which saiddoors are suspended, bottom guides between 'which the doors slidefreely, a pair of car operated diof mine vergent horizontally swingingarms connect ed at their free end to said doors near their adjacent edes, and fixed bearings to which theotherjend ofsaid arms are pivoted,one of said hangers being U-shaped to straddle an overhead electricconduit as moves back and forth.

the door '5. In combinationwith a pair of laterally movable mine doorsand their supports, of pivoted arms having their free ends adjacent/tothe meeting edges of saiddoors,

members-pivotally connected tolsaid doors and slidingly connected to thefreeends of fast at the free end. of each arm and dis: posed to faceinwardly to,form a yielding bufiier adapted't'o receive the impactoftheoncoming door opening car;

6. In a mine door operating mechanism,

laterally sliding doors, supports therefor, divergent vopening armsprojecting from the meeting edges of the'doors' outwardly, piv- .saidarms, and a curved spring plate made otal supports for the outer ends ofsaidarms, and sprlng members on the arms which pro- I ject inwardlysubstantially into line with the meeting edges of the doors.

In testimony whereof I affix mysignature. 7 WILLIAM CROOKS; l/Vitness: Vo

' NoMiE WELSH.

